Whip-socket.



UNITED s'rArns PATENT orrron.

LESLIE SETZER, OF GENTRYVILLE, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO HARRISON W. KERFOOT, OF GENTRYYILLE, MISSOURI.

WHIP-SOCKET Patented March 10, 1908.

Serial No. 321,363.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LESLIE SETZER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Gentryville, in the county of Gentry and 5 State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Whip-Sockets, of which the following is a s ecification.

My invention relates to w ip holding devices for vehicles and my object is to produce devices of this character for locking a whip socket if desired.

A further object is to produce means for normally holding the locking device inoperative in order that the whip may be placed in or removed from the socket in the usual manner.

A still further object is to produce a device of the character named, which is of simple, strong, durable and cheap construction and which does not detract from the appearance of the vehicle nor materially increase the size of the socket.

To these ends the invention consists in certain novel and peculiar features of con struction and organization as hereinafter described and claimed; and in order that it may be fully understood reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1, is a section on the line II of Fig. 2, Fig. 2, a section on the line IIII of Fig. 1, Fi 3, a horizontal section taken on the line IIIII of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4, a bottom plan view of a whip socket embodying my invention. I

In the said drawings, 1 indicates a socket of tubular form and which may be provided with the angle arms 2 for convenient attachment to the dashboard 3 of a vehicle, or said socket may be otherwise secured to the dashboard. The upper end of the socket is preferably flared at 4, and rovided with the internal upwardly dispose shoulder 5 to receive the centrally apertured rubber ring 6, and screwed or otherwise secured into the flared upper end is aring 7 for clamping the rubber ring reliably in position.

The lower end of the socket is preferably enlar ed to rovide the chamber 8 and pivoted and epen ing in said chamber is a catch 9 having a downwardly beveled recessed toe 10, and a depending heel 11, a spring 12 secured in the socket pressing against said catch soas to hold its toe portion in the vertical plane of the mouth or upper end of the socket. Above the horizontal plane of the toe the opposite walls of the socket are provided with key-holes 13, one of said holes communicating with a hole 14 through which the bit of the key 15 may pass, the other hole forming a journal opening for the barrel or shank of the key, and above said key' holes the socket is provided with a cross pin 16, in the path of the bit of the key to limit its turning movement, the bit of the key in turning being adapted to ride against the opposing edge of the catch and force the same against the resistance of spring 12, from the position shown in full to the position shown in dotted lines Fig. 1.

For the purpose of automatically securing the catch in its repressed or unlocked position, as shown in dotted lines, a lever 17 is pivoted at 18 to the bottom of the socket and is provided with a beveled tooth 19 projecting'up through a hole 20 in the bottom of the socket. The operation of the key in swinging the catch from the position shown in full to the position shown in dotted lines causes the heel to ride over and repress the toothed end of lever 17 against the resistance of the spring 21 interposed between said lever and the bottom of the socket and secured to the latter. As said heel passes the tooth of the lever the latter sprin s upward and looks it in the position shown y dotted lines.

The whip 22 of any suitable or preferred construction is ada ted to be dropped down into the socket in the usual manner the rubber ring centralizing it with res ect to the socket and holding it so that it wi 1 not rattle therein under the vibration of the. vehicle. At its lower end the whip is provided with a ferrule 23 having a beveled head 24, and a neck 25 uniting the head and the body of theferrule, the neck being of smaller diameter r than the body of the ferrule or its head.

When the catch is re ressed and so secured by the toothed lever t e whip can be withdrawn from the socket in the usual manner, but when it is desired to lock the whip in the socket so that an unauthorized person cannot remove it, the free end of the lever 17 is pressed upward to withdraw its tooth from the path of the heel of the catch 9 and the latter will instantly, under the pressure of spring 12, swing forward until its toe portion engages the neck of the ferrule of the whip. In this osition it will be seen that it will be impossi le for a person to grasp the whip and withdraw it from the socket, and

that such action can occur only after the key has been slipped into position and turned upwardly to repress the catch. It will thus be seen that I have produced devices by which the whip can be locked in the socket when desired or which can be so set as to permit the Whip to be slipped in or removed from the socket at will and that said locking or unlocking action can be effected practically instantaneously.

From the above description it will be apparent that I have produced a whip socket possessing the features of advantage enumerated as desirable, and I wish it to be understood that I do not desire to be limited to the exact details of construction shown as obvious modifications will occur to one skilled in the art.

Having thus described the invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A Whip socket having a reduced upper or neck portion, a catch pivotally pendent in the socket and provided with a substantially horizontal toe portion and a heel portion depending from the toe portion, a spring secured to the wall of the socket and pressing the catch toward the vertical plane of the reduced portion of the socket, a substantially horizontal lever catch pivoted to and exter- Ilally of the bottom of the socket, and provided at one end with a beveled tooth 19, a

spring engaging said lever catch and holding the same with its tooth yieldingly in the path of the heel portion of the depending catch so that said portion shall prevent accidental movement of the depending catch in one direction and yield to its movement in the opposite direction.

2. The combination with,a whip socket provided with a reduced upper portion or neck, a catch 9 pivoted in the socket and provided at its lower end with a toe portion 10 and a depending heel portion 11, a spring pressing the lower end of said catch toward the vertical plane of the reduced upper portion of the socket, a whip extending through the neck portion and into the lower portion of the socket and provided with a reduced neck portion adapted to be engaged by the toe portion of the catch, a key to be fitted, in the socket and turned to engage and force the catch from engagement with the whip, and a spring actuated catch lever to yield to said. key-actuated movement of the first-named catch and then engage the heel portion of the latter and lock it'in its reversed position.

In testimony whereof I allix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

LESLIE SETZER.

IVitnesses B. F. Ross, IV. I. HAGER. 

